The world premiere of a new orchestral score for “The Strong Man,” composed by a Jacobs School of Music student, is coming to the IU Cinema.
The 1926 silent film will be accompanied by a live orchestra at 7 p.m. Feb. 16. The orchestral score was composed by John William Griffith II, who received the 2019 Jon Vickers Film Scoring Award. As part of the award, Griffith was commissioned to create a new orchestral score for “The Strong Man.”
This award is given annually to a Jacobs student. The winner of the juried competition gets a commission to compose a new piece. Griffith is currently studying music composition in the music school.
Griffith, a composer and pianist from South Bend, Indiana, began composition studies in 2014 at IU South Bend. Griffith’s works have been performed by many different ensembles, from the Vancouver Chamber Singers to the Catalan Association of Composers in Oviedo, Spain.
“The Strong Man” is a comedy directed by Frank Capra. The story follows Paul, who immigrated to the United States from Belgium at the end of World War I. However, Paul is still in love with Mary Brown, who he wrote to throughout the war. Paul longs to reunite with Mary Brown and become the strong man he knows he needs to be.
Tickets are available for $8 at the cinema or online.
